Confidence in the economy remains below its early 2020 levels, though signs of a market bounce-back have improved Americans' views over the past month, a new survey showed Thursday.
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index is minus 10 this month, up from minus 16 in August, the pollster reported.
The index summarizes Americans' evaluations of current economic conditions and their assessment of whether the economy is improving or getting worse.
Currently, Americans are more negative than positive on both items comprising the confidence index, with 31% rating conditions “excellent” or “good,” and 34% evaluating them as “poor.”
Also, 40% say the economy is getting “better” while 56% say it’s “getting worse.” Last month, 32% said the economy was getting better, and 61% said worse.
The survey also found:
- 14% of Americans report satisfaction with how things are going in the United States; 85% say they’re dissatisfied. In comparison, in February, 45% of Americans were satisfied.
- President Donald Trump maintains a 42% job approval rating; 17% approve of the job Congress is doing, the lowest this year.
"[W]hile Americans do not have to be highly satisfied with national conditions to reward an incumbent with a second term, the current level is below what it was in the past when the public voted incumbents out of office," the pollster wrote.
The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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